


1 Year Later

by casietiel



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), Shadowhunters (TV) RPF, The Mortal Instruments (Movies), The Mortal Instruments (Movies) RPF, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Bisexual! Clary, Bisexual!Jace, Clace heavy at the beginning, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Jeliorn at the beginning, M/M, Multi, Post Finale, Post Season 3, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 15:50:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18814069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casietiel/pseuds/casietiel
Summary: One year has passed, and Jace finds himself at an art gallery to check on Clary.He never expected that she'd return his glance.





	1 Year Later

Jace sat at the edge of his bed, slipping on his white t-shirt. Meliorn was on the opposite side, naked with a sheet atop his lap. 

"You didn't seem as present as you usually are tonight, is there something that's bothering you?" The seelie asked, brushing a piece of hair behind his pointy ear. 

Jace shook his head and stood up, grabbing for his boxers which he threw to the floor at some point in the rush to get his clothes off. 

Meliorn smirked appreciatively, admiring the view before Jace stepped into and pulled up his underwear. 

"I'm fine, just a little tired." Jace said, realizing how easy it had become for him to lie. 

"Don't make me draw the alliance rune again, Jace. But if it's the only way to get you to be honest, then I will." 

Jace chuckled, but then his thoughts ran back to Clary, how she created those runes even though it would mean she would loose her memories. 

"I know you miss her, Jace. You don't have to tell lies." 

Jace stepped over to his shelves and pulled out a pair of his jeans, put them on, and then went over to his closet to grab a leather jacket. 

"And I suppose you're going to stalk her again." Meliorn stood up from the bed, letting the sheet drop onto the mattress, and stood looking at Jace.  
"It's not stalking, I'm just-" Jace turned and was momentarily shocked by Meliorns nudity, but continued his explanation nonetheless. 

"I'm making sure she's okay. Now, put some clothes on."

Jace walked towards the door to leave his room, but Meliorn grabbed his arm as he passed. 

"You know she's okay. You know that. It's your own grief that leads you to her every night. You can fool yourself, but you're not fooling me or anyone else for that matter. And everyone agrees, it's not healthy to keep doing this yourself. Stay with me Jace. I know we're not in a relationship and I'm just a distraction, but let me do that, let me distract you from your pain."

Jace looked at Meliorn, tears threatening to fall from his tired eyes. 

"I can't." He said, pulling away from Meliorn's grasp and walking out the room. 

Izzy was just outside the door, about to knock.  
"Oh- I wanted to see if you wanted to go out with me a Simon tonight. He has a concert." Izzy, said.  
"You don't have to of cou-" Meliorn appeared from behind Jace and smiled. 

"Hello Isabelle."

"Meliorn?" Isabelle asked in a state of confusion, before she nodded in understanding. 

"Trying to get through all the Lightwoods huh?" Izzy laughed, a hand on her hip. 

"It's all very funny, can you let me go now." Izzy's smile fell from her face and she nodded and stood back so Jace could get through.

Meliorn had found his pants and approached Izzy.  
"I expected this from him, but not with a guy. Not with you."

"I always had a feeling he was into men. I think he had some feelings for your boyfriend for some time." Izzy's jaw fell open and Meliorn laughed and backed into Jace's room to get dressed.  
"Simon's not gonna believe this." Izzy whispered to herself.  
____  
Jace expected the night to be warmer, and he tugged his leather jacket close as he walked on the New York City side walk. People mostly ignored him, though he did get stared at by a handful of girls that passed him. He smiled back, and considered the possibility of ever being with someone other than Clary. It was a painful thought, and he shook his head to rid of it as soon as it arose. 

Jace had been keeping tabs on Clary since she forgot her memories, and tonight her art would be displayed on exhibit at a small museum not far from the institute. In the past year, Jace fought himself on whether or not he should feel proud and let Clary go, or trust their love was stronger than the angels' spite. It was clear his friends believed what he was doing wasn't right, as Simon made it very clear only hours before during their training session. But Nephilim only love once and fiercely, and there was absolutely no hope for Jace to find someone else. There was no one else, just Clary.

The venue was similar to other museums Clary's art was featured by in the past year, and Jace smiled when he saw some familiar faces. She had obviously made some friends, and it made Jace happy to think she had made a good life for herself despite not being part of the shadow world. 

____  
The night dragged on as it usually did for Clary. She received the same questions she always did for her art, but each time she would try to elaborate on her answers. It was difficult considering most of the time, she didn't even know what inspired her art.

After explaining this to an older woman, seemingly memorized by a particular piece, a favorite of Clary's, she looked up to see a man staring at her. She was a little taken back by how familiar he seemed, and the intensity of his stare. He was beautiful, his blonde hair swept back, with some pieces falling to the sides of his head. He had some stubble, and light eyes. In fact, they seemed to be two different colors. At first, he wore a smile, a somber kind that was barely there, but it faded to surprise when Clary saw him. He seemed shocked that Clary was looking at him, and pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on. He looked backwards, to see if she was looking at someone or something else, but no one was behind him, and he looked forward again, where Clary has appeared right in front of him. 

He backed up a few steps, and Clary stopped in her tracks. 

"Sorry." She apologized, "I didn't mean to spook you."

"You can see me?" The man's breath caught in his throat before saying it, and Clary furrowed her brows in confusion. 

"Of course I can see you." She said, smiling. He looked relieved for only a second, but then his face fell again and he backed away before turning around and rushing out a back door. He shook his head on the way out, and Clary debated following him. She did.

The back door led to an alley. The man was several feet in front of Clary, so she started to run to keep up with him. 

"Hey!" She called out, her heels clacking against the concrete. "Hey I'm talking to you!" The man stopped, so Clary did as well. She stood for a second to catch her breath, and approached the man, who turned around to face her. A faint memory of a name flashed in her mind. Joseph? James? Jason? It was difficult to make out.  
Clary sighed, fighting her inner thoughts, desperately trying to get a clearer view at the memory. 

"Don't I know you?" She asked, frustration in her voice. "From somewhere?"

The man, Jackson?, shook his head and responded. "No, I don't think so." He seemed disappointed, or maybe even sad. 

Before he could finish, Clary interrupted, "No I do- I definitely do- I-" 

The man stood expectantly in front of her, waiting for her to finish her thought. 

And then, suddenly in hit her like a ton of bricks.  
Jace. 

The name played in her head over and over again, and Clary knew it wasn't the first time it was there. She thought it to herself with such fondness without even trying, as if automatically. 

"You're Jace, right?" She finally asked, and the man, Jace, his face lit up. The eye brows lifted towards the middle, and he didn't say a word for a few seconds. 

"Yeah." He answered, his lips lifting on the right side, revealing his teeth. 

"Yeah." Clary, repeated. 

"Yeah, I'm- I'm Jace." 

Clary smiled at him, the silence between them was odly comfortable and she allowed herself to enjoy for a few seconds before reminding herself to introduce herself. 

"I'm- Im Clary." She said. For some reason it seemed unnecessary to say it, as if Jace already knew. Jace smiled and a breath of a laugh escaped his lips. 

Clary's smile fell, when she saw a tattoo peeking out the top of Jace's white shirt. She couldn't see the whole thing, but just like Jace, it seemed too familiar to be seeing it for the first time. 

Words popped in and out of Clary's head, words like speed, which seemed to fit the mark against Jace's neck. 

"What are these tattoos on your neck?" Clary asked, and Jace turned his and took a breath out as if to compose himself as Clary reached out to touch the tattoo. 

He looked back at her, when her hand touched his skin. Clary could feel Jace's heart beating rapidly in his chest. It was yet another familiar sensation for Clary, who looked at Jace while her own heart raced. And with it, her thoughts dwelled on other faint memories, that she hadn't been able to remember clearly until know. They weren't huge memories, just small moments like seeing Jace's smile or the feeling of her head against his chest. She tried to convince herself that they couldn't be memories, that those things never happened, but as Jace smiled down at her, she knew she had placed her lips against his before. If not in this lifetime, then in another. But it happened, of that she was sure.

"Oh my god." Clary's fingers grazed the tattoo on Jace's neck, her head felt like it was being turned inside out. Memories she could never make out, never even knew were in her head, were becoming clearer by the second, until she could completely recall the first time she met Jace. 

It was similar to tonight, Jace was surprised  
Clary could see him, and Clary had no idea why she wouldn't be able to. 

"Woah." Clary gasped out, digging a hand into her hair and pulling it back. 

"We've met before haven't we?" She asked, rubbing her hand agaisnt her forehead, as if asking it for more memories. 

"No, Clary, I don't think-"

"We definitely have. At the pandamonium right? Didn't you bump into me and say something about me being able to see you because I have the sight?" Clary remembered the bright club sign, and spray painting Simon's truck. She remembered painting a weird symbol, one she didn't even know the meaning of, before Jace bumped into her as if he didn't know or didn't care she was there.

A sense of comfort flodded over Clary, for the past year she felt so incomplete and confused, but all of a sudden the puzzle pieces of her brain were coming closer and closer together.

"I knew that something was missing from my life." Clary said, more to herself than to Jace. 

"The memory is foggy, but it's definitely there." She explained, receiving a headache in return for trying to pry more memories from her head. 

"What else do you remember?" Jace asked, awestruck. 

"There's more to remember?"

"I think I know a place that could jog your memory." Jace smiled, holding out a hand for Clary to take. 

"Does every girl you've just met- well, just met for the second time, follow you around the city?" It was a joke more than a legitimate question, because Clary would follow Jace anywhere if he just asked. She had no idea why, but every cell in her body felt home. 

"I mean, have you taken a good look at me. Most girls, if they haven't already thrown themselves at me, are happy to be dragged around the city by me. Well most girls before- nevermind, but it's your decision." Jace smirked, a cocky confident smirk that Clary knew she had seen before. 

"I trust you. Lead the way." She said, taking the hand Jace previously held out. Jace nodded, and turned with Clary's smaller hand in his. 

Clary didn't ask where they were going, but basked in the sensation of Jace's hand holding hers. It was so comfortable, but it still gave her butterflies. Every now and again, he'd rub his fingers over hers, and she would smile and laugh to herself. She didn't see, but Jace would look over to her and smile everytime she did.

After a long year of not even talking to Clary, this was the best thing he could ever possibly imagine. Well besides what would have happened if Clary never lost her memories in the first place.  
___  
By the time they arrived at the ice skating rink, it was already close to midnight. The night chill was even more harsh than before, raising goosebumps on Clary's arms. They walked all the way to the entrance before Clary asked what they were doing at a closed skating rink. 

"It's only closed for everyone else." Jace replied, taking out some sort of wand-like object and drawing something on the door. It opened immediately, and Clary would've been shoked if her mind wasn't insisting that she knew that symbol. That she'd even drawn it before. Her brain was screaming out the word rune, and Clary said it without even realizing. 

Jace looked at her, his eyes lit up. "Yeah- Yeah it's a rune."

Clary smiled, her eyebrows lifted towards the center, and walked into the (now) open skating rink. Jace followed suit, closing the door after him.  
Clary found a light switch, and the lights on the high ceilings lit up one by one to illuminate a locker room. 

"I'm having so much deja vu." Clary said, walking towards the desk in front of a room full of skates.  
Jace went behind the desk, into the room and looked for their size shoes. 

"Don't you need to know my size?" Clary shouted out. 

"I got it." Jace yelled out, grabbing his pair with one hand from a shelf, nearly dropping them. He got Clary's and came back to the desk and handed them to her. 

"Thank you, sir. How gentlemanly of you." She took the shoes, and sat down on a bench in the middle of a row of lockers. She slipped off her heels with ease, sighing at the relief. She made sure her skates were untied, and put them on. 

"Do you want me to tie them for you?" Jace asked, walking towards her. She grinned and nodded, holding her feet out. Jace kneeled down on the ground in front of her. 

He tied one shoe, looked up at Clary with a smile, and then went to work on the other. When he finished, he stayed on the ground for a few seconds, just staring at Clary.

"What?" She eventually laughed out. 

"I'm just so happy." He said, before standing up. As he did, he nearly fell to his side, as he had put on his skates before going to tie Clary's. 

"Careful!" She giggled, pushing herself off the bench to help him stand. 

"I got it." He said, planting his feet in the ground and holding his arms to show off his balance.  
"Very impressive." Clary said, "but let's see how you do on actual ice." Jace sighed, and gestured with his hand for Clary to make her way to the rink. 

"After you." He said, bowing his head. Clary raised her eyebrows, chuckled, and went ahead. Little did she know, Jace wanted to go behind her so she couldn't see him struggle to walk. 

Clary stepped into the rink, leaving some room between her and the edge for Jace. 

"Come on." She said.

"Here we go." He took a deep breath, and placed one foot in front of the other onto the ice. It was a shock that he didn't fall on his face. 

"There you go." Clary held her hand out for Jace to take, to help him balance. He took it happily, waiting for her to start moving forwards. 

They moved slowly, and carefully, speeding up every now and again. For Jace, if they moved any quicker, he would've surely fallen. 

"Why did you bring me to a closed ice skating rink at midnight? Better question, why did I let you lead me here?" She asked, laughing. Jace didn't answer, only shook his head while laughing too. 

"Why don't you skate by yourself, tough guy." Clary suggested, letting go of Jace's hand before he could answer. He tried to grab her hand, but ended up moving his torso too far forwards. He tried to regain his balance, but his chest was falling closer and closer to the ice. He quickly tried to stand straight, but his back arched too far and he began falling backwards. Before he could save himself, he fell ass first onto the ice. 

Clary was about to laugh, but a wave of nausea hit her, and with it a memory. She could remember the first time Jace took her skating, and how he fell down that time too. She could see, through her past self's eyes, Jace saying something and crouching down to kiss him.

She wanted to keep thinking of the memories she previously lost, but her head hurt so intensely she needed to take a break. She shook her head to rid of the memory, for now, and skated up to where Jace was sitting on the ice. 

"The first time this happened, I offered to kiss it and make it better." Clary said, wanting to see if kissing Jace would be as warm and wonderful as she remembered. 

"Can you offer again?" Jace asked, not wanting to go too quickly but desperate to place his lips against Clary's. 

She smiled, crouched down, just as she did the first time. But now, she placed a hand on Jace's cheek and looked into his eyes for a couple seconds before leaning in completely. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before Clary backed away slightly. 

"You didn't have to do that." Jace said.

"I wanted to. I needed to."


End file.
